Terror on the streets as soldiers rampage through Harare

28 November 2008

Harare’s streets were on Friday the site of total chaos as angry uniformed soldiers decided to vent their frustration on traders, forex dealers and passersby, on the city streets.

The attacks began after a large group of soldiers went on the rampage at a bank on Thursday. Bank tellers had been unable to pay them the full amounts they wanted to withdraw, after they had spent a full day in the queue. These long queues outside banks have become a common feature because of the serious shortage of currency, as well as the restrictive limit on cash withdrawals. It’s understood the group ran amok and vented their anger on the staff of Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group along Samora Machel Avenue in Harare, after the bank ran out of cash by the end of the day.

The group of an estimated 60 to 70 men had queued to make cash withdrawals until closing time on Thursday afternoon. Banks in Harare are now required to serve all customers already in the banking hall at closing time. But roughly an hour after the doors were shut, bank officials announced there was no more money to pay out – causing outcry among the uniformed group. The men assaulted bank staff and broke windows before pouring out onto the streets, blocking traffic and intimidating passersby.

SW Radio Africa’s Harare correspondent, Simon Muchemwa explained that forex traders were the next victims of the soldiers’ rampage on Thursday. But he said that Friday also turned into a nightmare when the soldiers returned to take out their frustrations on the public.

“On Friday afternoon they returned and started ransacking all the banks and shops,” Muchwema explained. “Lots of shops were looted and the soldiers were beating everyone in sight.”

The Military police were eventually called in to try and calm the situation, and Muchemwa described the scene as ‘chaos’ as military police tried to control and arrest the uniformed soldiers. “Every shop and bank has been closed and people are so afraid,” Muchemwa said. “Everyone knew that the situation in the country would one day come to an end, and this civil unrest is the beginning of that end.”Muchemwa said there were also concerns that the soldiers were planning on conducting door to door raids from Friday night, to continue venting their anger – despite the attacks being grossly misguided. Muchemwa said it was ‘unfortunate’ that the public is bearing the brunt of the total collapse of the country, by becoming victims of violence, because of problems directly caused by the government.

Independent economic analyst John Robertson, had previously told Newsreel that public unrest was ‘foreseeable’ because of the tension caused by the central bank’s decision to restrictively limit cash withdrawals. On Friday he expressed a lack of surprise at the news that soldiers went on the rampage, but added that “it is surprising that there hasn’t been an outbreak of serious violence before this, because there have been obvious signs of impatience.”

It is yet unclear however if the cash crisis and the general frustration over the cash withdrawal limits is the only reason for the violent outburst by the soldiers. It has been suggested by some sources that the attacks have been orchestrated and possibly motivated by the ongoing political stalemate between ZANU PF and the MDC. There are fears soldiers are clamping down on the public in an effort to intimidate them – in the event that the MDC should pull out of the talks for a unity government.

Meanwhile a meeting convened by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in Masvingo on Monday called on Zimbabweans to converge on banks next Wednesday and stage demonstrations if they fail to withdraw their funds from the banks. Robertson argued on Friday that targeting and blaming the banks for a situation that has been created by the government and echoed by the Reserve Bank, was unfair, saying the banks “are victims of the exact same problem.”